That guy is who I am, but it is who I am to myself and in my writing. Speaking to Apple Music about the persona behind his songs, Tesfaye said, “I’m a chill person. And though his music has gotten a little brighter over time, the prevailing mood remains heavy, even unsettling-the ride you want more of even when you’ve had too much.
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Tesfaye’s music has become a symbol of hedonism pushed to bleak excess, with a series of albums-including 2015’s Grammy-winning Beauty Behind the Madness, 2016’s multiplatinum Starboy, and 2020’s dense and atmospheric After Hours-whose narrators can’t seem to say no even if they hate themselves for it later. Ethiopian by heritage (his parents immigrated to Canada in the late ’80s, just before he was born), Tesfaye-out from behind the mask of making art online-has since come to represent the changing face of Toronto, rooting himself not just in an international musical community but in a specific diasporic experience.
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One of the earliest musicians to find his footing on the internet, Tesfaye originally offered his music through YouTube and free downloads, a move that felt radical then but is common now. The brainchild of Toronto singer Abel Tesfaye, the project took off in 2011 with a string of mixtapes (later collected as 2012’s Trilogy) that forged cavernous, falsetto-driven R&B with narratives drenched in drugs, sex, and other regrettable decisions-a sound both sensuous and detached, featherlight and dead heavy. Even the singer’s sunniest tracks (“Can’t Feel My Face,” “Starboy”) feel anchored by darkness-the sense that pleasure is pain and beauty decays and you can’t have the night without the morning after. On Wednesday night, the Country Music Association Awards, in Nashville, featured a socially distanced but largely unmasked live audience that consisted mainly of the show’s performers, including Maren Morris, Eric Church and Chris Stapleton.Nobody makes feeling bad sound as good as The Weeknd. At the MTV awards, where the Weeknd was the lead performer and won video of the year for “Blinding Lights,” and at the Billboard Music Awards last month, artists appeared on soundstages without an audience.
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He also appears in a Mercedes-Benz commercial.Īs a performer, including on TV appearances like “ Saturday Night Live” and “ Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” the Weeknd has tended to favor elaborate, high-concept stage settings that can easily translate into a stadium environment.īut televised awards shows have struggled during the pandemic to capture the live performances that are usually their biggest draw. 1 spot on Billboard’s album chart for four consecutive weeks this spring.
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“After Hours,” his latest album, held the No. With an enigmatic stage persona, the Weeknd stands out for a high tenor with a strong Michael Jackson influence. 1 hit, “ Blinding Lights,” the Weeknd becomes a bruised and bloodied character in a red suit and black gloves, laughing maniacally as he dances to the song’s bright, pulsing synth-pop. Roger Goodell, the league’s commissioner, has said the league will work within the safety guidelines established by the city of Tampa, Hillsborough County and other officials in Florida, as well as following their own protocols, which this season have included a significant reduction in the number of people allowed to be on the field before and during games.Īfter emerging a decade ago as a mysterious creator of brooding R&B, the Weeknd has found success as a pop artist with a dark, avant-garde edge. has not indicated how it will stage the show. In a brief acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards in August, he said simply: “It’s really hard for me to celebrate right now and enjoy this moment, so I’m just going to say: Justice for Jacob Blake and justice for Breonna Taylor.” He has also been a vocal advocate for wider social justice causes.
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In the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing in police custody, he donated $200,000 to Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp Legal Defense Initiative, showing receipts to his 25 million Instagram followers.
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Tesfaye has publicly supported Kaepernick. Kaepernick began kneeling during the playing of the national anthem before games to protest police brutality and racial injustice, and has not found work in the league since 2016. recruited Jay-Z in 2019 to help orchestrate musical performances for marquee games, most notably the Super Bowl, after artists across the music industry said they would not work with the league to show solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, a former San Francisco 49ers quarterback. “His soulful uniqueness has defined a new generation of greatness in music and artistry.” “The Weeknd has introduced a sound all his own,” Jay-Z said in a statement. It will be the second Super Bowl halftime show produced in part by Jay-Z and Roc Nation.